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6 VIGILANCE FOREVER - 75 years of The Signal 1919-1994
Living the great adventure
"The strongest human emotion is
neither hate, nor sex, nor love, nor
fear. It is the desire to edit another
persons copy. "
Anonymous
By JOHN BOSTON
Mr. Santa Clarita Valley
ewspapering is
the grandest
N adventure.
It is the daily safari of tramping
through God's teeming jungle, taking
notes on the oddest of creatures -
kings, poets and perverts. Liars and
heroes, members of the Department
of Motor Vehicles. And they all have
The Story.
The Story is tragic. Or comic.
Inspirational or gut-wrenching.
• Sometimes, when the wind is just
right and you get lucky, it's factual.
The Story is rarely true. It may have
the names spelled correctly - again,
if we're lucky and weren't up the
night before, weeping with our own
problems. And all the the saids,' she
saids' are pretty much verbatim. But Engraving courtesy SCV Historical Society
writing a newspaper story is pretty Could this 1873 engraving, showing John Lang's confrontation with a bear in Soledad Canyon, have been a
much like the Japanese fable of hint of the valley's newspapering adventures to come?
"Rashomon." You have one earth-
shattering event with a half-dozen beyond, which, at the time, was still This is not an easy business. It can stupid. Newspapering seems to attract
completely different viewpoints and so mysterious and much unexplored. cost you alleged friends and money. few omniscients and fewer saints,
agendas, both hidden and embarrass- We fought many good fights over People sometimes worship comfort although we can't understand why.
ingly obvious and usually unprintable. the years - and yes, a few bad ones, and denial above all else and ask why The pay is low enough and the hours
For 75 years, The Mighty Signal can be brutal. But for any of those
has been chronicling life in the Santa rare instances the past three-quarters
Clarita Valley. What change. What 'It is the daily safari of tramping of a century, real or imagined, where
sameness. we've hurt someone, honestly, we' re
There are still those living in town through God's teeming jungle, sorry.
who remember dirt roads and quieter, The Santa Clarita has survived a
halcyon times. The Valley was a sim- 500-foot wall of water descending on
ple farm town of 500 souls. On Feb. taking notes on the oddest of this valley when the St. Francis Dam
7, 1919, the very first Newhall Signal broke in 1928. We've cleaned up and
hit what streets there were and the die creatures - kings, poets and rebuilt after floods and fire, depres-
was cast for that irreverent, question- sions, wars, earthquakes and teen-
ing, caring style that has been the perverts. ' agers. Despite our own building burn-
unmistakable trademark of this com- ing down, or being shaken by the
munity's newspaper ever since. throat by monumental continental
We ran jokes in the first Signal. too. If you're a good community can't we just print the positive. We tremors, in 75 years, we've never
And chicken tips. (i.e., tips on raising newspaper, you're the heart and soul can't. Because like a good parent, no missed getting a newspaper out to our
chickens.) We called for a variety of of your town, both cheerleader and matter how much we love our chil- community.
civic improvements - like a steam preacher. But there are days when you dren, there are times when we have to It's called vigilance. It's forever.
laundry, pool hall, sugar factory and have to be more. There are times present information that our children
even a bank - to join us in our vil- when even in good stewardship, you don't particularly want to hear - but John Boston first worked for The
lage of commerce and community. have to uplift a rock to expose those it's information they really, really Signal in 1971 and is currently editor
World War I had just ended and we who murder. Or cheat their neighbor. need to know. of Son of Escape, The Signal's weekly
reached out to the larger community Or violate a public trust. We've been dead wrong and plain entertainment section.